Tax credits, loans approved for housing units at former factory building in Olneyville

Thursday

Jan 12, 2017 at 12:34 PMJan 12, 2017 at 12:34 PM

Christine Dunn Journal Staff Writer ChristineMDunn

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Rhode Island Housing's Board of Commissioners on Thursday approved tax credits and loans as part of a $21.9-million financing plan for the former Imperial Knife Factory at 60 King St. in Olneyville, which is slated to be reused as 60 apartments.

Of the 60 apartments, 54 will be affordable and 6 will be market-rate. When completed, the building will include 3 efficiency, 15 one-bedroom, 20 two-bedroom and 22 three-bedroom apartments.

Since the board approved preliminary financing last May, the development costs have increased by 27 percent, mainly due to increased construction costs and the required brownfields cleanup of the site, which borders the Woonasquatucket River, according to a Rhode Island Housing staff report on the plan.

But the high costs on a per-unit basis, officials said, are justified by the community benefits it will provide as part of a larger plan to revitalize Olneyville, remediate environmental contamination and reconnect the street and an historic building to the rest of Olneyville and Manton Heights.

"60 King is currently a magnet for graffiti, trespassing and vandalism," the staff report said, and it is "located at the edge of Olneyville but is cut off and unconnected to the neighborhood." The building is located behind the Manton Heights public housing site, near Riverside Park.

"60 King Street was built in 1923 and is eligible for federal historic tax credits," the report added. "Originally the mill was the site of the Rochambeau Worsted Company and it produced French Worsted Wool until the 1950s." The building was sold to the Imperial Knife Company in the 1950s, which operated there until the business closed in 1998. It has been vacant ever since.

The developer, Trinity Financial, Inc., of Boston, "intends to demolish four additions to the mill that are not historic and that contain the majority of the environmental contamination associated with the site," the report added.

The board approved $900,000 of 2016 9-percent low-income housing tax credits, a $6.5 million tax-exempt loan, a $500,000 housing preservation and production loan, and $500,000 in HOME funds. Citizens Bank will provide a $15 million construction loan, the report said.

Commissioners on Thursday also approved financing packages for the Branch Street Apartments, a 46-unit affordable housing development in Pawtucket with a total development cost of $11.09 million, and for the $15 million renovation of the historic Lippitt Mill in West Warwick, which will be reused as 65 units of mixed-income housing, including 28 affordable units. New York developer Kristopher Shaw said construction is under way.